WINCHESTER, Va. — When two musicians become romantically involved, “it doesn’t mean you see eye to eye or have the same temperament when it comes to performing,” said cellist Julian Schwarz.
He kept this in mind when he began seeing pianist Marika Bournaki, a fellow student at The Juilliard School in New York City.
Then, on their third date, she noticed a piece of music sitting on the piano in his apartment.
“We just played it through. Oh, it was fun,” Schwarz recalled.
They decided to try a few more pieces, “and we just kept on playing. We never spoke about interpretation,” and instead just listened closely to each other.
After the two graduated from Juilliard, they went on tour together, performing in Austria and, in 2016, landed first prize in the Boulder, Colo., International Chamber Music Competition.
This weekend, the newly married pair will offer a recital of intimate chamber music — including Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Camille Saint-Saëns and Gabriel Fauré — from their adopted hometown of Winchester, Va. The performance is for the Port Angeles Symphony’s audiences, Schwarz said, especially since they haven’t been able to attend any concerts.
“An Evening with Julian Schwarz and Marika Bournaki” will premiere, free to the public, at 7 p.m. Saturday via portangelessymphony.org. Donations to the nonprofit symphony are welcome, and technical support is available at 360-457-5579.
The video will continue to be available for viewing throughout the spring and summer along with last fall’s performance by the Sempre Sisters and the Port Angeles Symphony octet, which is also accessible from the website.
Bournaki and Schwarz’ recital, an hour and five minutes in length, was recorded in the chapel recital hall at the Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester. As light streams in through the stained glass windows, the cello and piano engage in conversation.
“The first thing I have to talk about is Julian’s singing tone,” said Jonathan Pasternack, conductor and music director of the Port Angeles Symphony.
There’s an old saw in musical circles, he said: Pretty much every instrumentalist will tell you his or her instrument is the one whose sound comes closest to the human voice.
“Because so many make the claim, it’s almost humorous,” he said — but when he listened to Schwarz, it rang true. “There’s something so remarkable about the expression he elicits from his cello. It’s not often that I’m so carried away, that I’m just in the music, and forget everything else. But that was so for their recital.”
“We had a blast doing it,” Schwarz said. He and Bournaki set out to play a mix of moods, including lesser-known pieces by Dmitri Shostakovich and Anton Webern, and finished the whole recording in one take.
“For now, this is the closest thing to live music,” Bournaki added.
Recording or not, she sets out to evoke the experience of a concert. She was also conscious of the fact that Schwarz, who is from Seattle, has appeared as a guest soloist several times with the Port Angeles Symphony.
“We gave our all for this audience. We wanted to give something of meaning,” Bournaki said.
“We’ve had a crazy year … When I hear music now, I’m more moved than ever,” added the pianist, who grew up in Montreal, Canada.
“The listening is key to playing as one. That’s what we’ve been able to cultivate,” said her husband, who isn’t shy about voicing his hopes for this recital.
“We tried to make it as the most expression of love possible. Love between us two, love for the music, and an expression of love to the community we played it for.”
Bournaki and Schwarz, both 30, were married under a handmade huppah in their apartment last May, on the sixth anniversary of their first date. Before the wedding, friends told Schwarz: When you get married, everything changes.
To his relief, nothing has. The feeling of making music together is the same as when they began as students in New York, said Bournaki.
“Our relationship has evolved, but the essence is the same,” she said, admitting, “when Julian and I started dating and playing together, I knew it was going to be forever.”
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Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
